Which and Why - The Nikon delima...

[DFW_Warrior]

Originally Posted by klb1122

Bill, your loot arrive today?

It did... but I am 1500 miles away in Toronto. I'll be home on Saturday evening and that will be first thing I mess with I'm sure.

[klb1122]

Originally Posted by DFW_Warrior

It did... but I am 1500 miles away in Toronto. I'll be home on Saturday evening and that will be first thing I mess with I'm sure.

[Johnny Monsoon]

Pick up a D80 or a D90. They bothgive fantastic images. I prefer the D80 but the D90 shoots faster and may be better for your needs. Then put the money where it really counts... glass.

[Gilk51]

Originally Posted by DFW_Warrior

It did... but I am 1500 miles away in Toronto. I'll be home on Saturday evening and that will be first thing I mess with I'm sure.

Maybe Rachel will let me borrow it until Saturday...

[DFW_Warrior]

It's Saturday..... too late! Hopefully I'll be putting stuff together and figuring it out tonight when I get home.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by DFW_Warrior

It's Saturday..... too late! Hopefully I'll be putting stuff together and figuring it out tonight when I get home.

Looking forward to your report. Gotta buy some lighting myself in the next few weeks...

[DFW_Warrior]

I'll post up some shots and some decent reviews once I get it sort of figured out and working. The only real maybe is the triggering system. Everything else I've pretty much already seen first hand how they work. STScott and I were already messing around with the same model of flash that he had bought, and the other stuff is pretty much run of the mill photo equipment.

But I am excited to get home and open all my boxes. Rachel told me that I've got stuff from Amazon, Adorama, Rocky Mountain ATV, and my CHL renewal finally came in. It'll be like Christmas for me!

[Azrael]

If you have big hands as do I, you may want to consider a D300. It is professional grade magnesium chassis and completely weather proof. I just sold mine and bought a D7000 which is a tad bit smaller than the D300 but larger than the D5100. I added a grip and now I feel much more comfortable with it.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Azrael

If you have big hands as do I, you may want to consider a D300. It is professional grade magnesium chassis and completely weather proof. I just sold mine and bought a D7000 which is a tad bit smaller than the D300 but larger than the D5100. I added a grip and now I feel much more comfortable with it.

The size of the camera is what sold me on the D7000.

Welcome to TWT!

[DFW_Warrior]

Originally Posted by klb1122

Bill, your loot arrive today?

Well, I got home and my umbrella holder wasn't with everything else. It delivered early up at work so I'm thinking it is still sitting in the mail room waiting for me. At least I hope so.

So far the flash and triggers are working just fine. It only goes to 1/200th, but that is okay for me since I am a complete noob when it comes to photography as well as flash.

But I will say this... If you own a flash, pony up the $28 and spend the money on some cheap triggers and get the thing off of the camera. Every shot I've taken looks so much better if I'm holding the flash just offset and a little above the camera.

[igo-wfo]

here's one I shot at Burleson MX of a friend on his vintage Maico 490, turned out pretty good..

[DFW_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Keith

Looking forward to your report. Gotta buy some lighting myself in the next few weeks...

Wahoo! Man, this stuff is fun to mess around with! First photo with the new stuff. Offset to her right, shoot through, and a silver reflector off to her left.



So far everything is working great and appears to be of really good quality. The only thing I wish I should have bought is a second light stand to hold the reflector. That will come in very handy and I'll probably end up picking one up before too long. Just an FYI, with the cheaper flash and the really cheap triggers I am limited to 1/200th before I start seeing shutter lag. So if high speed sync is what you are looking for then this isn't the way to go. For portraits and such, it is probably the best $185 you will ever spend.

[klb1122]

Nice shot, Bill. Is that SOTC? Are you shooting in RAW? Are you working with any post processing yet?

[DFW_Warrior]

Originally Posted by klb1122

Nice shot, Bill. Is that SOTC? Are you shooting in RAW? Are you working with any post processing yet?

Thanks!

I don't know what SOTC is so I can't answer that one just yet. I am shooting in large, fine Jpeg since I'm not too keen on raw too much. And I have Lightroom and love it but for this photo the only processing after the fact was a minor crop. No color or exposure compensation.

[DFW_Warrior]

Ah....figured it out. Not straight out of the camera....just a minor crop on this one.

[Keith]

I had to think about that one for a bit myself...

[STScott]

Originally Posted by DFW_Warrior

Thanks!

I don't know what SOTC is so I can't answer that one just yet. I am shooting in large, fine Jpeg since I'm not too keen on raw too much. And I have Lightroom and love it but for this photo the only processing after the fact was a minor crop. No color or exposure compensation.

RAW is the only way to go. Do not let the camera process the photo....do it yourself in LR.

[M38A1]

Originally Posted by STScott

RAW is the only way to go. Do not let the camera process the photo....do it yourself in LR.

+ eleventy-billion....

Shoot RAW, bring it into LR just like you do now and have an invariable field day with the files.


.

[klb1122]

Originally Posted by DFW_Warrior

Ah....figured it out. Not straight out of the camera....just a minor crop on this one.

[mesman01]

My 2-cents guys. Most of this has been covered in one way or another, but I just upgraded from an old D100 to a D7000. I'm a pretty serious amateur (w/ some paid gigs too) and I have some 10 y/o professional glass (28-80/f2.8 and 80-200/f2.8) that will not work with the D5100. That was the main reason that I went w/ the D7K - internal motor to drive the focus on the older lenses. I've been shooting Nikons - both film and digital since the early 80's and I have too much investment to move to another platform.

I have since bought the 18-200/f3.5-5.6 VR "Super Zoom" and a new 35mm/f1.8 "DX" lens. Both of these lenses have the focusing mechanisms in the lens and do not require the body motor. They would work just fine w/ the D5100.

Just like most motorcycle folks, I travel a lot w/ a camera in the tank bag as well as international business/vacations and I have just gotten really tired of carrying 35lbs. of gear (esp. w/ airline luggage fees these days!) Moving forward in my photography, I'm going the minimalist route and carrying just these two lenses, and most likely only the 35mm. It's a phenomenal prime lens and the soft backgrounds at f/1.8 are very appealing. I learned photography in the 70's using a Yashica G35 rangefinder shooting B/W that I developed and enlarged myself. If I could afford a Leica M9 w/ a 35mm f/2 and 50mm f/1.4, that would be all I would carry ever! (Sneaker-zoom)

If I need the fast pro glass, I've got it and can use it w/ my D7K, but if I were starting from scratch w/ a completely new "modern" system I wouldn't hesitate to look at the D5100 either - it's a little small for me but YMMV. I encourage my friends that are just buying into a DSLR system to look at both Nikon and Canon. If they are sports oriented, I suggest Canon. If they travel and mainly do portrait/landscape/nature, I suggest Nikon.

Remember, the best camera is the one you have with you!

Mark